By Christian Guerithault ’14
THE ROUNDUP
Coaching a varsity sport is a difficult job for anyone, adding five honors math classes to the mix just makes the challenge even harder.
Head wrestling coach Mr. Brad Frank said he has been into wrestling for the majority of his life.
“My dad got me to start in a kids program when I was five years old,” Mr. Frank said.
While the wrestling team this year is young, Mr. Frank said he is confident in his inexperienced wrestlers.
“Our varsity team is young and inexperienced, but we are definitely showing glimpses of some good things to come,” Mr. Frank said. “We have some really good young kids who work really hard.”
Mr. Frank has a good reputation as a coach from his wrestlers.
“He’s a good wrestling coach,” said third year wrestler George Porras ’14. “Every week after a match he tries to find a common thing that we all did wrong and fix it that week.”
Although the wrestling team is young, there are four experienced wrestlers who lead the group.
“The team leaders are our four seniors, Chase Frank ’13, Kaleb Mosier ’13, Ben Sierpina ’13 and Seth Hernandez ’13,” Mr. Frank said.
Mr. Frank has had the opportunity to coach his son, Chase, for four years.
“It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but it’s also been some of the greatest memories that I have,” Mr. Frank said.
Mr. Frank not only has to worry about coaching wrestling, he also has multiple math classes to teach.
“It’s tough, this year I have five honors classes,” Mr. Frank said. “It’s hard to have the time to prepare lessons, grade papers, plan practices and go to tournaments.”
Wrestling is a difficult sport to coach, according to Mr. Frank.
“In most sports you can watch a lot of tape or draw plays up on the chalk board,” Mr. Frank said. “In wrestling, the only way to coach is to get down on the ground and do it yourself.”
The wrestling team is off to a solid start this year after coming in sixth place out of 70 teams in a tournament in California.
“We are doing pretty well this season, but we can always keep improving,” Porras said. “Mr. Frank really helps us with finding our flaws and fixing them.”